Open Heavens 22 August 2025 Friday – Two Sides Of A Coin – Open Heaven For Today, RCCG Devotional
Open Heavens 22 August 2025 Friday – Two Sides of A Coin
MEMORISE: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Psalms 119:105
READ: Philippians 2:12-13 Open Heavens 22 August 2025
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Open Heavens 22 August 2025
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Lamentations 1-2
MESSAGE: – Open Heavens 22 August 2025 Friday Daily Devotional
Many things in life have two sides or distinct opposites, just like the sides of a coin. For example, there is the sun and the moon, male and female, etc. God Himself has two sides. 1 John 4:8 says that He is Love; however, Hebrews 12:29 also says that He is a Consuming Fire.
God is a wonder; many things about Him attest to this. He is a lamb, and He is a lion. When you talk of a lamb, you immediately think of a tiny little sheep that is so beautiful that you want to hug it, but when you talk of a lion, that is an animal that people do not usually mess around with. The Bible also calls God a sun and a shield (Psalm 84:11). While the sun can be so hot that people run away from it, a shield protects people and makes them safe. We also know God as the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 1:8). He is the beginning and the end, the first and the last (Revelation 22:13). While He is starting some things, He is putting an end to some others. He is the One who blesses a family with a newborn baby and stands faithfully by the side of a believer who is taking his or her last breath. The same God who is merciful (Psalm 103:8) is also terrible (Deuteronomy 7:21). Our God is unfathomable.
In your relationship with God, there are also two sides: God’s side and your side. As you work out your salvation with fear and trembling, He works in you to do His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). If you say that because He is working in you, then you can continue to sin, expecting grace to abound, He will forbid that (Romans 6:1-2). Yes, He wants you to be with Him in a mansion in heaven (John 14:2-3), but if you don’t play your part to get to that mansion, you will end up in hell. I agree that Jesus Christ brought grace (John 1:17), but that same verse says that He brought truth along with it. If you reject His truth, which sanctifies you and keeps you holy (John 17:17), then you will not enjoy His grace.
Beloved, the side of God you see and experience will depend on your actions and inactions. Walk in His truth and obey His commandments, and you will experience His favour and mercy abundantly in your life.
Key Point – Open Heavens 22 August 2025
God is Love, but He is also a Consuming Fire. Whichever side of Him you experience is up to you.
Open Heavens 22 August 2025 Friday Commentary
Praise the Lord.
Our topic for today once more is two sides of a coin. Today’s study reveals to us that our God is a wonder beyond comprehension. There is no doubt that our God is full of love and mercy. Yet at the same time he is a consuming fire. The Bible presents him as the lamb who takes away the sin of the world and yet also as the lion of the tribe of Judah. These dimensions or nature of God reminds us that he cannot be reduced to human definitions. There is no explanation of his ways.
Our God is both tender and terrible. He is gentle and mighty. He is merciful yet just. Our walk with him must therefore recognize these aspects of our God. There must recognize his nature. We must always have at the back of our minds that if we lean only on his love and ignore his holiness, we may be drifting into carelessness. If we focus only on his judgment and forget his mercy, then we will walk in unnecessary fear. So, for us to truly know our God and to enjoy him to the fullest, we must embrace both sides of his nature. In today’s study, our father and the Lord shares with us some of God’s nature. We are told, for example, that God is love. Scripture tells us plainly that God is love in 1 John 4:8. This is not just a description of his actions, but we know for sure that this is exactly who he is. He is love and everything that we see about him confirms this.
Everything about our God, be it his act of kindness, every provision he provides for us, even the breath that we take into our nostrils freely, they all flow from the nature of his love. From the beginning, his love has been evident. He created the world. He placed man in it and even after man fell, our God, who is love, still provided a way back through Jesus Christ, his love is also revealed in the way that he cares for us as his sheep. He’s called the good shepherd. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself in John 10:1 said, “I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” This is true love in its purest form. We can see all shades of sacrificial giving and patience there.
Beloved, when we yield to this side of God, we find comfort. We find peace and security. We become like children resting in the arms of a loving father whom we can truly trust. Yet, we learn about this same God to be a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:29. We know what fire does. Fire refinishes, it purifies and it also destroys. This side of God reveals his holiness and his justice. He cannot behold iniquity. Remember the story of Nadab and Abaihu who offered strange fire before the Lord. Though they were priests, fire went out from the Lord and consumed them. Likewise, Ananas and Sapphira in the New Testament when they lied to the Holy Spirit and judgment fell immediately. These stories remind us that God cannot be mocked.
Beloved, His consuming fire warns us against taking His grace for granted. Grace is not a license to sin as many believers think it is today. His grace is instead an empowerment to live holy. Another nature of our God which we learn about today is that he is the lion and the lamb. As the lamb, we know that he was slain to redeem us. He was meek even down to the point of slaughter. His humility led Him to the cross where He bore our sins. But as the lion of the tribe of Judah, He roars with authority. He conquers His enemies. He reigns in majesty.
Beloved, the lamb draws us to his love, but the lion commands our reverence. To walk with God is to bow to both his tenderness and to his mightiness. We also learned from today’s study that he’s the beginning and the end. This means that he initiates, and he concludes. He opens doors and he shuts them. This should be a source of comfort to us today that no matter where we are in life’s journey, God holds both the first chapter and the last. The one who started your story knows how to perfect it. And it is my prayer for us today that our lives would be beautiful stories. We will start well and finish well in Jesus’ name. How about the nature of our God where he is both the God of mercy and the God of judgment? The Psalmist declares the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. Psalm 103:8.
You would agree with me that this is the side of God that many believers prefer to embrace. Yet the same Bible tells us that our God is great and terrible. When we say that our God is terrible, we do not mean that he is cruel. We do not mean this in the form of wickedness, but in majesty and judgment against sin. Now, this gets even more interesting as our study for today tells us that the same way there are two sides of God in our personal relationship with God, there are also two sides. our side and the side of God. There is no doubt that our God is ever faithful to do his part. He provides salvation. He offers grace and he works within us to will and to do of his good pleasure. But we also have a responsibility to walk in obedience, holiness and reverence. We are made to understand from today’s study that the side of God which we will experience is based on the choice that we make.
Obedience opens the door to mercy. It opens the door to favor and blessing. But rebellion exposes us to his consuming fire and his judgment. God is not mocked. You cannot deceive him. You cannot walk in disobedience and expect the results of obedience. We may not know all the ways of our God. However, one thing is sure that he is faithful. So let us walk in holiness. Let us walk in humility. And let us walk in obedience. so that we may enjoy the fullness of his love both now and in eternity. I like us at this point to bow our heads and we’ll be asking the Lord today we would say Lord thank you for being both merciful and holy.
Ask the Lord today say father please help me to embrace both sides of your nature in the name of Jesus. Ask the Lord today say father please help me to walk faithfully with you. Help me to experience your mercy and your favor your love and your preservation in the name of Jesus. Ask the Lord today. Say, “Father, let my life align with your truth always in Jesus’ name.” Ask him today. Say, “Father, please grant me the grace to walk in obedience so that I will continually enjoy your love and your mercy in Jesus’ name.” Why not also ask the Lord today to purge you of anything that may attract his consuming fire. Anything that is not pleasing to him, any double standards, every secret sin that can expose us to his consuming fire.
Say, “Father, please purge me today in the name of Jesus.” Also ask the Lord today, say, “Father, please keep me prepared to meet you as both lion and lamb in the name of Jesus. Let your return not meet me unprepared. Let me not face you as the lion and be unprepared in the name of Jesus. Ask the Lord today for the grace not to take his mercy and his grace for granted that we will cherish it all the days of our lives in the name of Jesus. Begin to bless the name of the Lord and thank him for answers to prayers. Just worship him, give him thanks, honor and adore his name. Father, we bless you. Blessed be your name. In Jesus’ name we have prayed. Amen.
Open Heavens 22 August 2025 Friday Hymn
Hymn 1: All Hail The Power of Jesus’ Name
1 All hail the power of Jesus’ name!
Let angels prostrate fall.
Bring forth the royal diadem,
and crown him Lord of all.
Bring forth the royal diadem,
and crown him Lord of all!
2 O seed of Israel’s chosen race
now ransomed from the fall,
hail him who saves you by his grace,
and crown him Lord of all.
Hail him who saves you by his grace,
and crown him Lord of all!
3 Let every tongue and every tribe
responsive to his call,
to him all majesty ascribe,
and crown him Lord of all.
To him all majesty ascribe,
and crown him Lord of all!
4 Oh, that with all the sacred throng
we at his feet may fall!
We’ll join the everlasting song
and crown him Lord of all.
We’ll join the everlasting song
and crown him Lord of all.
